this country take a dive and enjoy the thrill of a wild ride on the political right, they better decide to join her or not. if they give and the president gives on a second step, we could have a deal. if not, we won't. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. more politics ahead with al sharpton. president obama sends a message to republicans -- don't test me. the word "veto" was missing last night, but news today has everyone wondering will the president shoot the boehner plan down. one of the president's close st advisers is here. the wealth gap grows, yet republicans are holding the economy hostage. nice priorities. plus newt is blowing more hot

air on climate changes. he flip-flop makes tonight's "con job." is the palin act coming to an end? her movie is tanking. is her political career going straight to pay-per-view? welcome to the show. i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, the white house signals it may veto john boehner's debt plan, but it's not clear that boehner could even get his own party to support it. in a speech last night, he tried to selling his vision to skeptical republicans by pinning the blame on the president. >> i'll tell you, i gave it my all. unfortunately the president would not take yes for an answer. >> mr. speaker, it's your party, they said no, no to the reid plan, no to the president's grand bargain, no to the gang of six plan, no to mcconned's plan b. last night the president challenged americans to send a

message to republicans, saying no is not a policy. >> so i'm asking you all to make your voice heard. if you have a balanced approach, let wlur member of congress know. if you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message. >> and america has responded. capitol hill phones are lighting up. 40,000 calls went in during the lunch hour today, and web sites for boehner, michele bachmann, and jim demint all crashed because of heavy traffic. americans are speaking. will republicans listen? joining me now is valerie jarrett, assistant to the president of the united states, and white house senior adviser. misjaret, will the president veto the boehner plan if it comes to his desk? >> well, first of all, good evening, reverend sharpton, a pleasure to be on your show. i i've been watching you since

you started at the 6:00 p.m. hour. i think the fact of the meter is it won't be aissue. we're not sure it will get out of the house. majority leader reid made it clear today it won't pass the senate. what he said last night is, look, it's time for everybody to get together, time to forge a compromise, there's too much at stake. you saw the reaction from the american people today. their expectation is that congress is going to act on their behalf, and seven days from now, if congress doesn't act, we're going to face the first time in our history a default of the federal government. that's unacceptable, it can't happen, everybody has to roll up their sleeves, and everyone will have to give a little and compromise and get the job done. >> now, you're saying that it won't get there, and i was just read i reading this statement online, where they're saying the president, the wiggle room in the statements suggest that the president wants to leave himself

the possibility of signing mr. boehner's version if the it's the only option to raise the nation's debt ceiling in the last hours before the august 2nd deadline next week. you're saying that it may not even get there. >> it won't even get to that. we have already heard from majority leader reid that it can't past the senate. the president was clear last friday, that there were a couple things that were absolutely essentially. one, we have to compromise. everybody has to give a little, and the other very important point is he said very clearly that we need a long-term solution. when we listen to businesses all across america, what they say is that this current climate is having a chilling impact. what we know is most important, and reverend, you and i have discussed this many times, is job creation. we have to get our economy going again. the best way to do that is send a signal across the country that the united states pays its obligations, we pay our debts, we act responsibly. people all over the world invest

in u.s. treasuries. we need their confidence, and we need the confidence of our own business community. what we're hearing also is from the ratings agencies that a short-term solution may not be acceptable to them. right now we enjoy a triple-a rating for the united states, something we've always had, something that's important to keep our interest rates down. if we have a short-term solution, we could jeopardizes that as well. we need a solution that goes for the full year. senator reid's proposal goes for a longer term. that's why the president said it's important to take a hard look at his. it's not perfect, but certainly a lot byrne than the one speaker boehner is proposing. >> whether you say it's not perfect, you know that many people in the democratic side of the debate are saying we're giving too much. if you look at the washington polls, "the washington post" has a poll that came out today, 72% of americans support raising taxes on those making over

$250,000 a year. we even see where 62% support a combination of cutting spending and increasing taxes. yet -- >> that's where the president is. >> yet the reid plan doesn't even given revenues. some say we're giving too much. >> i think it's a down payment. it is a spending-only plan. however, and it's an important however, he does set up a process where we have the partisan support that would look at spending proposals, contrasting that with what speaker boehner is proposing, that would not allows for spending cuts either initially -- i'm sorry -- for revenue either initially or in six months. when you contrast the two, clearly the majority leader's is a stronger plan, but everybody knows we have to compromise, we have to figure out something that can past both house and the senate and come to the president's desk. that's what he called for last night. he said very clearly to the american people, we have so much at stake here.

-- that you pay on car loans, on mortgages, student loans, small businesses, large businesses, all will be impacted, not to mention the millions and millions of checks we send out every month. many of who are small businesses and can't stand to not get paid immediately. people who buy our bonds buy it based a our triple-a rating. there's a cascading disaster that will occur. that's why it was important for the president to go right to the american people, alert them what's at stake, encourage them to get involved, courage them if they support compromise, to let them know it's important.

and you know from the response -- >> people responded. >> people understand it's important that there's shared sacrifice here. we can't balance the budget and cut or deficit on the backs of our senior citizens, our most vulnerable population. we can't do it that way. so we need the american people to get engaged. >> many of us, i think when the president says compromise, i don't know if those on the other side understand, many of us are saying veto -- bill clinton said use amendment 14. i would use it, but the president has said, no, i'll take the flak from people on my side, bud it doesn't seem that speaker boehner is able to deal with the flak on his side. i'm certainly one would say amendment 14, see you later. i think the question is whether or not the republicans can meet the president at a level of

compromise. >> well, you know in washington, they tend to do things at the last minute, so i'm still hopeful that with the support and the outpouring we're hearing from the american people, congress will act. i just had a meeting in the roosevelt room with representatives of various veterans groups. they're concerned about the people who have served our country, who have made enormous sacrifices, both they and their families, worried maybe we won't be able to pay or veteran benefits. these are real challenges we have to look at straight on, which is why the president wanted to remind the american people of this last night. it's not trying to scare people. it's just trying to be honest and candid. we are down to the home strep. we still have time for both houses to act and for the president to sign what should be an automatic bill that's signed. if you think about it, ever since ronald reagan, every president where this has come up, we've had the debt ceiling raised time and time and time

again. >> automatically. >> and what i want to refresh the memories of your viewers is that what we're talking about by raising the debt ceiling is simply paying our existing obligations. congress passed a budget. we spent, based on that budget. we represented to people, like running up a credit card. we took on obligations which we now have to pay, so all that does is allow us to pay our existing obligations that congress already authorized us to expend when the budget was originally passed. so we're not talking about going and expending more than congress has authorized. we just want to be honorable and pay our debts. >> and a lot of people will be on the line for those payments to be made. thank you, valerie jarrett. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. thank you very much. see you soon. joining me now is richard

wolffe, also with me msnbc analyst and former rnc chair michael steele. michael, can speaker boehner get his votes he needs for his plan? >> yeah, i think he can. i think that you're seeing some of the machinations used in that direction despite some of the pronoun pronouncements about this part of the caucus. harry reid had similar responses to the plans he proposed that had no revenue enhancements or tax increases or whatever they want to call them. i think the bottom like, particularly after listens to the president last night and seeing and hearing ms. jaret, that the president will sign the boehner plan when it gets to his desk. >> let me be clear, that what you're saying, so i'm not taking away the wrong message. you're saying that you do think the president will sign it. >> yeah. >> even though there's reports

now that he's saying that if it got that far, that some of his senior advisers would advise against it. you're saying he'll sign it. >> yes. >> and ms. jaret says she doesn't think it will get that far. >> i know she said that, and i understand the politics of the senate, but the reality is if the senate has nothing that they know absolutely will not pass in the house, even among some democrats, that there are republicans and there are democrats in the senate who will fight the boehner plan. it's the strongest play in washington until something better comes along. >> richard, what do you think? does the president sign it? does the plan get there? >> no, he will not sign it. my sources tell me he will not sign it, this is no way to govern or run an economy. a two-phase plan, something that just gets them through six months will never fly with this president, because frankly it cripples the president and the economy for the next year. so it's not going to happen. by the way, i just don't think

either side has come up with a proposition, either the house or the senate has come up with a proposition that will get through either chamber. so this is kind of fake. there isn't this kind of time left for that kind of posturing. >> let me say this, the president says compromise, the american people seem to want compromise. i'm very clear where i would be on the other side, but the polls say the american people, according to the same worst both poll i cited, not willing enough to compromise, republicans they believe are not willing enough, 77%. 14% say they're too willing. clearly, michael, the american public is saying that it's the republicans not coming to the table trying to work something out here. >> i think we need to be clear here. i don't know what the actual question was in that poll and

how it was phrased, but the fact of the matter is republicans have been very, very clear that they won't -- you're right, they won't compromise on the spending. the spending is the biggest problem right now, and i appreciate misjaret's point, that we' misms. jarrett's point, we haven't gotten to the raise the ceiling between 2009 and today, and maybe beyond. so the spending part is a real big issue for a lot of american people. >> isn't it also the issue revenue, michael, they're not just talking about spending. they were talking about revenue when reid said, okay, fine, to the chagrin of some of es, said i'll take revenue off the table. >> what does that tell you, reverend? then you say no, we don't want to do that. >> but what does that tell you? the president has been all over the place without a plan since the beginning of is the year. the fact of the matter is at one

point he wanted a clean debt bill, then was willing to accept one. at one point think say we want taxes, and then reid puts out a plan that, yeah, we'll do that. the only consistent argument that has been made is made by republicans saying no to the spending. >> no if it's reid, no if it's boehner, i mean -- >> where it gets back to the plan -- he'll sign it. >> michael, i don't understand how, in the face of the data of the american people is it that the republicans are tone-deaf or just don't care? >> i don't know. >> i don't know what kind of constitution these house republicans believe in, but the jurisdiction that the majority in one house gets to dictate policy to the senate and to the presidency is kind of strange here. you do need people to come together at this time, saying you've had a consistent plan is not any way the system is designed to run. it's designed to find common

ground between rival branches and rival parties. if they cannot do it over this, over budgets that they have already voted for, then what's the point of even voting for a budget in the first place? if you're just relitigating old agreements and votes, nothing will ever happen. >> i have to break in, but let me just review, richard, you say that he will not sign it if it got that far, michael, you say he will. >> he will. >> i say, let me provide the pen if it gets that far. it won't have any ink in it, michael. thank you both for joining me. the recession that is led to a record income gap between whites and minorities, and john boehner's debt plan would make it even worse. we'll discuss that next. and freezing out the media. where's the bachmann team first roughed up a reporter. now they have a new plan. how long request she stay in her bubble? stay with us.

[ male announcer ] there's more than one of these abandoned racetracks in america today. automotive performance is gone. and all we have left are fallen leaves and broken dreams. oh. wait a second. that is a dodge durango. looks like american performance is doing just fine. ♪ carry on. ♪ energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas.

the rich are getting richer. the poor are getting poorer. the wealth gap, the highest in a quarter of a century. that's next.

there's a growing divide in this can this and republican policies are only making it worse. a nonpartisan think tank says that bainers's debt plan is, quote, tantamount to a form of class warfare. if enacted, it could produce the

greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern u.s. history. this comes as a new stud jo shows the wealth gap between whites and minorities is at least a 25-year high. in 2009, the median income wealth for a white household was over $110,000. compare that to hispanics, who median income was just over $6,000, or after kaj-americans, who wealth was just around $5,600. to break this all down, let's bring in amar'e calf campo and

jonathan capehart. >> i spoke to the author this morning, and what the pugh research center did, what they found was that had 20 times the wealth of the typical times, and that is the biggest wealth gap in 25 years since the government started keeping figures on this, so it could be more than 25 years, but we don't have the data going that far back. >> what i also read in this record is it felt as a result of is the recession and african-american families by

16%. >> the numbers are just shocking. what they took at was wealth, assets, things like your house, your car, your savings, minus your debts. they found between 2005 and 2009, a snapshot essentially of the recession s. whites lost 16%, hispanic, which were the hardest lost 66% of their wealth. the reasons are twofold. minorities had a lot more of their net worth invested in their home. when the housing bubble burst, they were a lot more affected. when you're living on the brink, what's the first thing that happens, you drain your savings and the credit card debt goes up. >> jonathan, the politics of this is that clearly the president spoke at la rasa yesterday, spoke earlier this year at the action network. he's having to talk to groups

that represent constituencies that have an unequal impact by the recession. >> right. >> what that stud,shows, it puts on paper what african-americans and latinos in particular know anecdotally, that when there's a recession in the united states, while it might be bad for the nation overall, it's tim larry damaging when first last hired, first fired, and lots of other policies that have people losing their job and their homes. for african-americans and latinos as well, you know, the home was basically the piggy bank, where you invested all your money in the hopes of one day selling that house and maybe retire or do something else. that's where you put all of your money for hope for wealth

generation, as mara pointed out in our synopsis of the report whether the housing bubble burst, so did the hopes and dreams of families across the country. >> mara, how do we fit the gop and the safety net, the whole policy fight in the middle of this? >> i think it sos more starkly, and this is not the first time we've seen indicators like this. four closure rates, all those things, that communities were hit much harder than white communities, but we're seeing how hard this plays out. this is something that plays out on a much longer term, that affects potential one's children and grandchildren. >> generational. >> so it shows how much more on the margins these communities are living. >> jonathan, when you deal with the house been bubble bursting, you also said you have to deal with any number of studies that showed that black and latino communities were targeted by some of those that were given

these mortgages in ways that they knew they wouldn't last. or they couldn't incur the ownership. >> right, the requirements, but that speaks to regulation and the need for financial industries and banks to be more highly regulated to ensure that they basically aren't predators on people who cannot afford or shouldn't be rolling up in the front door trying to buy a five-bedroom house with an income of $12,000. >> that's my question to you, jonathan. given the republicans' position on regulation, and given their position in terms of dealing with spending and across the board wouldn't this gets at least worse? >> sure. please, if you were told, go right ahead and do whatever you want, you'll do whatever you

want until someone tells you to stop. one of the primary ownership important things that the federal government can do is to ensure that people who are the most vulnerable or potential at being vulnerable, being taken advantage of and having their wealth and income and financial security, that they're not -- that they're not preyed upon by banks and financial institutions, and that's why, when you have the presidents going to la rasa, speaking at the national network, going to the naacp, and talking to these constituencies about what he's trying to do to ensure that the american dream applies equally. >> well, mara and jonathan, thank you for your time this evening. >> thank you. >> thanks, rev. newt gingrich is blowing hot air again. his latest flip-flop on climate change is our con job of the day. and sarah palin's big-screen debut is tanking at the box

office. what does that mean for her political career? i think i know how this movie ends. that's ahead. what's up, smart? oh, just booked a summer vaycay. ooo. sounds pricey? nah, with the hotels.com summer sale, you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting... wow, i'm blown away. you look great. hotels.com summer sale, save up to 30%.

and get a free kindle. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. the 3.6-liter v6 engine of the jeep grand cherokee has a best-in-class driving range of over 500 miles per tank. so you can catch morning tee time in pebble beach and the afternoon meeting in los angeles all without running out of gas. just make sure you don't run out of gas. ♪ this past year alone there was a 93% increase in cyber attacks. in financial transactions... on devices... in social interactions... and applications in the cloud. some companies are worried. some, not so much. thanks to a network that secures it all and knows what to keep in, and what to keep out. outsmart the threats.

see how at cisco.com cisco. ♪ going to the bank without going to the bank... that's a step forward. with chase quickdeposit on your smartphone, you just snap a picture, hit send and done. chase quickdeposit. take a step forward and chase what matters. ♪ we just keep on keepin' on ♪ ♪ keep on

once upon a time, newt gingrich worried about the planet getting warmer, but now all that hot air is coming from him. that's our con job of 9 day. newt's presidential campaign has had plenty of problems, but one of his biggest struggles has

been to downplay this ad he made with nancy pelosi in 2008. >> we don't always see eye to eye, do we, newt? >> no, but we do agree, our country must take action to address climate change. >> cleaner forms of energy, and we need them fast. >> if enough of us demand action from our leaders, we can park the innovation we need. >> he's pretty clear in that ad, he thought the country needed to address climbed change, but today he said people are twisting his words. >> i was trying to make a point that we shouldn't be afraid to debate to the left, even on the environment, but it was obviously misconstrued and probably something i wouldn't do again. >> so back when he wasn't running office, he could show for change, these days he calls for abolishing the epa and says he was trying to engage the other side with an ad in the

conversation. that's interesting since in january, he said, quote, i meant exactly what i said in that commercial. let's check back with newt one more time to make sure we don't misconstrue what he's saying. >> our country must take address to address climate change. >> he'll try to flip-flop out of any situation by saying he's misconstrued, when the video shows otherwise, it's just ridiculous, and it's our con job of the day. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. ♪ ♪ i like dat, all right [ male announcer ] mio. a revolutionary water enhancer. add a little...or a lot. for a drink that's just the way you like it. make it yours. make it mio. ♪♪

♪ ♪ ♪ look at that car, well, it goes fast ♪ ♪ givin' my dad a heart attack ♪ [ friend ] that is so awesome. ♪ i love my car [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] that first chevy, yea, it gets under your skin. ♪ is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal.

for the efficient absorption my body needs. diabetes testing? it's all the same. nothing changes. then try this. freestyle lite® blood glucose test strip. sure, but it's not gonna-- [beep] wow. yep, that's the patented freestyle zipwik™ design. did it just-- [both] target the blood? yeah, drew it right in. the test starts fast. you need just a third the blood of one touch.®

that is different. so freestyle lite test strips make testing... easy? easy. great. call or click-- we'll send you strips and a meter, free. free is good. freestyle lite test strips. call or click today. welcome back to the show. to discuss some of the biggest political stories, we bring on our power panel, joining me is alicia menendez. also with me, washington bureau chief for the huffington post, ryan grim, and finally from washington, d.c., republican strategist john feehery.

should washington rip a payment from the nfl playbook. they were all hugs after reaching a deal to end the lockout and save the season for millions of fans. the key, both sides were willing to compromise. >> i hope we gave a little lesson to the people in washington, because the debt crisis is a lot easier to fix than this deal was. >> but in washington, republicans are refusing to budge, and are blocking the president at every turn. will republicans call a play that's in the best interests of the american people? >> what this shows is people need a deadline. the players and owner probably would have quipped at each other if there wasn't a season coming.

i think we're going to see the same thing in the next few days or even weeks over in congress, as this deadline of august 2nd forces them into action. john boehner's bill is coming to the floor tomorrow. let's say it passes. it probably will barely passed. it would go ahead smoked over in the senate. harry reid and mcconnell's thing come back to the house, and then they have to decide then. i think they'll probably pass something. >> john, in the middle of's this now sneeze what's going to happen, veterans, if we're using football language, the only people being tackled is the hopes and security of american people. what's going to happen from your party? >> well, al, let me tell you this, i think that ryan is right, a deadline is important. that's one lesson. the owner important lesson to

learn, the nfl and the players have a financial incentive to reach a deal, so i think that one thing we could think about is if barack obama doesn't sign a deal from the congress, he ought not to get paid and none of the lectors should get paid. take away that pay. i think that's another way to get the fire in the belly. >> at least the currency in politics is votes. where can this go in terms of the electoral? 77% of the american people polled by "the washington post" says the republicans are not compromising enough. 14% say they're too willing. will it come a point, seeing all the calls going into the capitol today, seeing the web sites crashing, will it come to a point that the currency where

people votes, people start saying, wait a minute, there could be a backlash. >> you would certainly hope so. i think if we were talking about national politics, that might be true. i think the challenge is some of these republicans come from districts where they really do believe they were elected on a mandate to do exactly what they are doing. that's part of the challenge here. so i think the drama has moved from this being about democrats and republicans coming together, and is now squarely in republican court. you have republicans coming out, saying they won't even vote for boehner's plan, which begs the question, what will they be voting for? >> that's a good question. let's go to another subject here. is sarah palin's act officially over? the documentary hilariously titled "undefeated" is tanking. ticket sales for a pro-palin film dropped a whopping 63%.

we hear it's ledding to pay per few september 1st. she said recently she's still thinking about running for president, but have we seen the end of sarah palin? >> i think what you have seen is you've seen her be pushed to the side, because of michele bachma bachmann. she's taken a lot of sarah palin's thunder. if she's going to get in, she better make her decision fairly quickly. the big problem is if he gets in and loses, her star power is completely lost. i'm not sure where palin is going next. i think that she still wants to be a player, but i'm not quite sure how she's going to play in the future. >> based on the timing of a decision, ryan, will a palin endorsement mean anything in the republican primaries? if she decides to get out before she totally crashes, could she throw her weight somewhere and

really make a difference? or is she too polarizing for a lot of the candidates that are out there? >> she still definitely has a lot of pull. the question is whether or not she wants to use it. john raises a very good point. she's operating under the notion if it ain't broke, you don't fix it. she's making a ton of money traveling around the country selling books or whatever she can ink her name to, so palin inc. comes under threat if it's not shown -- if she endorses a candidate and that candidate loses, that's a chink in area armor. it probably would be best to stay out of it. >> but if you're throwing a movie and theaters are dropping 63% sales, it's broken. don't tell nobody, but it's broken. >> it doesn't help. >> alisha, if you were advising

her, what would you say to her? cut your losses? >> i'm not one to defend sarah palin, but i will say it wasn't as much a palin production as much as a piece of propaganda. what she does need to take responsibility for is articulating some vision of what america would look like under her leadership. to say she hasn't dong that. she's been much more interested in producing reality tv shows. >> i don't see how she stays relevant throughout in cycle unless she does endorse someone. >> can chris christie run for president without admitting it? he continue toss say he's not running for president, but that doesn't stop him from taking a shot at the field. >> if i believe someone has

distinguished themselves in a way on the issues that i care about, then i feel enthusiastic enough to endorse them, i will. >> a lisha, did christie just dislike the field because he's not in it? >> i don't think so. >> >> i think this might be the first thing we agree on. but i think he would be to focus on new jersey, where he has plumb mitting poll numbers, and that's in large part because while people like his swagger, they don't like they substance. new jerseyians are finally tuning in. he just passed a piece of legislation that takes tremendous cuts to public employee benefits. while that all sounds good, when it starts facting the dallas size for your kid, you feel differently about it. >> does he run or keep flirting with it? >> chris christy has a lot of

support out there, especially among i think he's taken a long hard look. i think he wants to see through his reforms in new jersey, a and while they're tough choices, i think the polls will bounce back and new jersey will be much better off. that being said, you know, the field i think is pretty strong. most of the field is really kept pretty quiet, because they don't want to get involved in the middle of this debt crisis between obama and the congress, so really the race hasn't officially begun yet. it's going to begin with the iowa straw poll, and the -- >> i'm going to have to leave it there. sorry, ryan, but i'm so tempted, because john said the race hasn't begun, and most of the candidates are quiet, because they don't want to get in the middle of the debt crisis. i thought they wanted to be

president. thank you all for a great panel tonight. next the bachmann media plan is becoming more clear. she's following the tea party playbook. that's next. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want,

whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪ 60 years after deseg rebase battle were fought in little rock, arkansas, a lawsuit around race, and an arkansas valedictorian has now jumped up

in arkansas again. we'll talk about that next. whoa. right? get out. i know! who knew? i mean. exactly! really. that's what i mean. [ mom ] what? shut the front door. right? seriously. who knew? hello sir. bingo! mahjong! for realz. woop-woop! franklin delano! [ male announcer ] hey, there's oreo creme under that fudge! oreo fudge cremes. indescribably good. and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief, twice as fast.

an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model-year newer... with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance product like it. better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual. it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy?

michele bachmann can't seem to get away from question being her husband's clinic, which came under fire for trying to, quote, cure gay people. we told you how she dodged it in a recent interview. >> what is your opinion on repair tiff therapy and is it something conducted at that center? >> i'm running for the president of the united states. i'm here today to talk about job creation. >> but, of course, the issue today is about the reparatiff therapy. you don't want to comment and give your side? >> i'm here to talk about my run for the presidency of the united states. >> well, the bulk marn team was reportedly infuriated with that reporter's questions -- there's

a report that a journalist from the same tv station was barred from asking bachmann any questioning even though other stations had asked it. this news comes a week after bachmann's body guards physically pushed an abc news correspondent who was asking about her migraine headaches. this seems like a trend, of bombman's people keeping her in a bubble, insulationed from answering tough questions. joining me is huffington post report and is msnbc analyst alex wagner. can she run in a bubble? >> it's hard. i don't know if you've ever done it. >> i ran for president, and they didn't let me run in a bubble. >> no, you can't. living in the bubble works when you're trying to build grass-roots support, but when you're on the national stage, you do have to answer these

tough questions. this is hugely controversial, so are a number of other things. this is someone who has railed against, quote/unquote, government handouts, and it turns out they have received subsidy foss their clinic, for their farm. she received a federally backed home loan. there's something to be said for standing behind your decision, and if you can't, someone will answer the tough questions for you. if that's the opposition, i don't think it's a good play. >> i don't think it's as much the particulars as the inconsistency. you've taken a policy decision, but you seem to have done otherwise in your own business. >> the idea you won't have to answer questions like that when you're on the national stage i think is ludicrous. you can't almost see the light going on autopilot, go to jobs. it's like you have got to have -- i think especially

because her big problem right now is a lot of establish is thinking is she a real player? can she get real support from big downers? another problem that's coming up, she's missing a lot of votes. she's a member of congress. where is she on the votes? she's missed 50 of 135 votes. >> she's made 50 votes, and a lot of competitors have not missed votes in a way she has. i think you combine that with the migraine stories, she's got to get in front of the issues and explain why she hasn't been on the floor of the congress especially as the country is facing a battle right now on capitol hill. >> well, we'll see where it goes. i mean, at this rate, her biggest contribution may be to

stop sarah palin. >> if that's a contribution, i think some people will take it, al. >> i'll take it. let me ask you this. how does she regroup? do you think if she came out of the bubble and dealt with these questions straight up and forthright, she can recapture it? she had momentum going, and she has struck fear into the heart of tim pawlenty. >> they're fighting and -- >> there's a healthy tit for tat going between the two campaigns. there's the straw poll in a couple weeks. she needs a really strong showing there. she has ed rollins on her side. she has the bones, the infrastructure there, to sort of make a u-turn if not a nice 90-degree turn, and establish herself as someone that can tackle it, but it's got to be concerted effort and it's got to come from her. >> thank you for joining me. ahead an arkansas high

school student with the highest ggpa denied an address. why? >> ( rooster crows ) >> by 2020, 50 billion network devices will roam the earth. that's seven devices per person. this will change how we work in ways we've never before imagined. what do you need to secure your people, their devices, and your business? a network that can evolve and grow to protect your human network. [ male announcer ] at e-trade, low cost investing doesn't just mean a low price.

it means getting everything you need to invest for yourself, not by yourself. it means choosing from stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and every etf sold. plus 5-star research designed to increase your intelligence, not insult it. so you can wave good riddance to some high-priced joker churning out cookie cutter portfolios. price is one thing. value is another. don't confuse the two. e-trade. investing unleashed.

if you have the highest gpa in your high school class, you're the valedictorian, right? not in mckeegee high school. kimberly is suing the school, claiming officials discriminated against her because she's blame. she claims because the school made a white student share the honor, because, quote, school personnel expressed concern that wimberly's status as a value ticket tornado might cause a big mess. well, they think it's more than a mess, they say it's racism. well, it brought me back to thinking about 60 years ago right in arkansas, the battle in little rock, the battle to deseg

re gait schools. we've come a long way since then, and even though i have fall to civil rights. i'm the first so say we made a lot of progress, but we're not there yet. when we look at kimberly, it is not polarizing to bring up the difference in race, to bring up the difference in gender, to bring up homophobia. last year we marched. this year we're going to be watching again. i want to salute skip mason and others making it possible for us to have it at the monument in